From the distance, mages and archers raised their weapons, taking aim at the creature still thrashing against Landre's sanctum.
"Hold fire!" Varius shouted. "You might harm the Saint!"
Sarvin was already charging from across the chamber, his blade glowing with divine light. The tip extended toward Alukah as he closed the distance.
Suddenly, the flailing stopped. Alukah froze, its head twisting upward.
In that mere second, a cold chill ran down Landre's spine as she took in the surrounding chaos. The ranged attackers had halted their barrage—the creature had positioned itself where they couldn't fire without hitting her. The melee fighters had rushed forward to save her. All of them drawn to one spot—right where it needed them to be.
It had orchestrated this. The creature was not mindless.
With a powerful flap of its wings, Alukah created a blast of air that knocked most of the nearby soldiers off their feet. Sarvin stumbled backward, his charge broken.
The creature was already in the air, banking sharply. It dove for the entrance where the Inquisitor struggled to maintain the barrier against the mindless villagers.
"No," Landre whispered, her heart sank.
"Astral Lance!"
Commander Varius thrust his sword forward with tremendous force. The blade extended with intense blue light, stretching across the chamber like a phantom projectile, intercepting the creature's path.
Alukah twisted upward at the last moment, its body contorting to dodge the blue blade. The attack passed beneath it, sparing the Inquisitor but missing its target by a hair's breadth.
"Fire!"
The artillery of magical arsenal unleashed once more. Spells streaked through the air—light beams, fireballs, arrows—driving the creature away from the entrance in a coordinated barrage.
"Prepare another magic circle!" the platinum-ranked adventurer shouted, his mace gleaming with enchantments. "We'll lure it in!"
Without waiting for acknowledgment, the man turned and charged back into the fray.
Landre released her sanctum with a sharp exhale. The barrier of light dissolved around her. Beads of sweat traced down her temple as she steadied herself.
Her gaze found the entrance where the Inquisitor stood with both arms extended, his body trembling from strain. Relief flooded through her—he was alive. But the feeling vanished as quickly as it came.
The transparent barrier flickered. More villagers had gathered beyond it, their withered hands pounding against the magical wall. The Inquisitor's legs shook. The barrier threatened to fade completely.
The remaining Inquisitor beside Landre followed her gaze, his expression tightening with understanding.
"He can't hold it alone," Landre said.
"But the spell require—"
"I'll be fine."
He hesitated for only a second before nodding. Then he was running, robes billowing as he sprinted toward the entrance. His hands moved through practiced motions, channeling his mana into the barrier. The transparent wall solidified as the second Inquisitor shared the burden.
Landre turned back to the creature. Alukah twisted through the air, still evading the barrage of spells and arrows that pursued it.
She drew a deep breath and clasped her hands together. The words came woven.
Two templars moved to stand before her. One flexed his fingers, clawed gauntlets gleaming. The other held twin daggers, each blade as long as a gladius. Sarvin's grip tightened on his sword, his jaw set. Then he spun away and threw himself back into the battle.
The adventurer with the mace stepped forward, his shield now glowing with intense white light.
"Solar Trail!" he roared.
He hurled the shield toward Alukah. The disk ignited mid-flight, blazing like a miniature sun as it tore through the cavern. It bounced off a stalactite, ricocheted off the wall—each impact sending it on a new path, relentlessly hunting the creature through the air.
Alukah refused to be prey. Despite the relentless pursuit, it twisted mid-flight and flung one arm forward. Sharp crystals embedded in its skin shot out like shrapnel.
Several mages and soldiers cried out, struck before they could react. For a moment, it seemed the creature had escaped—banking sharply away from the pursuing disk.
Commander Varius roared and swung his sword in a rising arc.
"Star Glimmer!"
Instead of the sweeping Moon Crescent earlier, tiny points of light shot upward, glimmering like stars against the cavern's darkness. They weren't aimed at Alukah—they floated directly in its escape route, waiting.
The creature banked hard, too focused on the pursuing shield to notice—
The lights detonated in brilliant blue bursts. Alukah recoiled, flight pattern breaking as it swerved blindly away.
Straight into the shield's path. The disk struck home with devastating force.
Landre turned her head toward the blinding flash.
Alukah shrieked. Its wings beat erratically as it tumbled through the air, disoriented.
"Now!" Commander Varius shouted.
Another adventurer launched a specialized bolt that exploded mid-air. A net expanded rapidly, its enchanted fibers wrapping around Alukah's falling form. The creature's wings tangled completely in the magical mesh.
The adventurer gripped the rope attached to the net. He pulled with tremendous force, swinging Alukah like a massive bolas. With a roar of effort, he hurled the creature toward the prepared magic circle.
Alukah slammed into the ground. The impact sent tremors through the cavern floor, dislodging small stones from the ceiling.
The creature thrashed inside the net, each shriek sending blasts of sound through the chamber that made Landre's ears ring. Sharp shards grew back on its skin, threatening to cut through the mesh.
Landre's face tightened with strain as divine energy built to critical levels within the circle.
With one final gesture, she released the spell, hands extended.
A massive beam of light tore up from the circle, swallowing Alukah whole. It speared from floor to ceiling, a pillar of radiance so intense it erased shadow itself.
The creature shrieked—high, raw, inhuman—its corrupted flesh buckling and thrashing as the light scoured through it.
Landre staggered back, breathing hard. The spell no longer needed her. Faith bound into the circle carried it forward.
The Templars kept their defensive stance before her, weapons ready for whatever might survive the cleansing.
The light burned pure, and even with her eyes shut, the world went white.
The beam finally collapsed. Landre opened her eyes, her vision still spotted with afterimages. Alukah lay motionless—its once-crystalline skin burned away. At its core, a diamond-shaped red crystal embedded in its chest caught the lingering light.
"Did we get it?" someone asked tentatively.
Silence fell over the chamber. No one moved. Everyone watched the charred remains, waiting.
Helyns stepped closer, her eyes fixed on the exposed crystal. "That must be where it stores the life essence of the victims," she said, pointing at the red diamond. "We need to secure it."
A soldier stepped forward cautiously toward the exposed core. His hand extended slowly, fingers trembling as they reached for the glowing crystal.
His fingertips brushed the surface—
Alukah's eyes snapped open.
Its charred arm shot up. It caught the soldier's hand and pulled it toward its circular mouth.
The teeth closed shut in one clean motion.
The soldier crashed backward, screaming. His left hand was gone—only a bleeding stump remained as he clutched it with his other hand.
"It's still alive!" a few shouted.
The creature rose slowly. Each movement was jerky, clumsy—yet the lethal presence radiating from its burned form made everyone step back.
Alukah leaned its head back. The severed hand slid down its throat, visible through the charred vocal cord as it descended.
The red diamond core began to glow brighter. Flesh and skin sprouted around it like roots, spreading across the burned chest.
"It's using the core to heal!" Helyns called out.
"Separate it from the body!" Commander Varius ordered. "Quickly!"
The platinum-ranked adventurer raised his shield and charged. His massive frame built momentum, boots pounding against stone as he bore down on the creature like a battering ram.
Alukah's charred hand shot out, catching the shield's center just as he collided.
The impact was devastating. The creature's feet carved twin furrows through the ground as the force sent it sliding backward several paces, ash and debris spraying from beneath its heels. Its arm trembled violently—but the hand held firm, stopping the charge completely.
The adventurer's eyes widened behind his shield. "What?!"
From the right, Varius appeared mid-sprint, sword already drawn back for a thrust aimed at the exposed core.
Alukah pivoted on its planted hand, using the shield as an anchor point. It spun sideways, positioning the adventurer's massive armored body directly between itself and Varius's incoming blade.
Varius pulled his thrust short at the last instant, unwilling to risk striking his ally. The creature released the shield and sprang backward in the same motion.
It almost escaped—but Sarvin had already closed the distance from behind.
Alukah's hand shot out, grabbing Sarvin's blade mid-swing. It wrenched the sword downward, slamming the tip into the ground. In the same instant, its wing swept down like a scythe, the pointed bone structure at its edge aimed directly at Sarvin's exposed neck.
Sarvin twisted his body, narrowly avoiding the first wing-strike. He yanked his blade free from the ground—then pivoted away as Alukah's second wing swept toward him from the opposite side. Both strikes missed by inches. He was already repositioning, ready to strike again.
Behind Alukah, the adventurer's massive form closed in. He raised his shield high overhead, the weapon poised like an executioner's blade above the creature.
Alukah spun to face him, crossing both wings above its head in an X-formation just as the shield came down.
The impact was thunderous. Shield met membrane with bone-jarring force—a shockwave of air erupting outward, blasting ash, dust, and loose debris away from the collision in all directions. Metal screeched against the reinforced wing structure as they locked, neither giving ground.
On both sides simultaneously, glowing blades materialized from the chaos—one brilliant white radiating from Sarvin's sword, the other piercing blue from Varius's blade.
Both warriors swung in perfect synchronization, their strikes angled to sever Alukah's head from its shoulders.
Alukah's arms shot upward, palms catching both blades mid-swing. The light-infused steel seared into its flesh—smoke rising, skin blackening and cracking—but the creature's grip didn't falter. Its fingers curled tighter around the blades despite the agony.
The creature's circular mouth flared wide as if to scream—but only a broken, distorted sound emerged from its ruined vocal cord.
"Shut! Up!"
The adventurer's other hand rose, mace gripped tight, aiming to smash down on the creature's face.
Alukah's circular maw snapped forward, rows of teeth clamping down on the mace head itself with crushing force.
All four locked in position—the adventurer's shield pressing down from above, Alukah's jaws locked on the mace, its hands gripping the two swords on either side. Bodies trembled with exertion as they strained against each other.
"Someone. Get. The. Damn. Core!" Varius forced the words out through clenched teeth, sweat dripping down his face.
Several soldiers nearby looked at each other, waiting for someone to volunteer. None moved forward. They'd all seen what happened to the one who lost his hand.
But footsteps approached rapidly from another direction.
The templar with twin daggers broke away from his position near Landre. He charged forward, blades catching what little light remained in the cavern.
He dropped into a low slide at the last moment, his body skidding across the ground between the locked warriors. Both daggers flashed as he passed beneath Alukah—steel biting clean through the creature's ankles with surgical precision.
Alukah's legs buckled beneath it. The creature's body sagged—but impossibly, its hands maintained their death-grip on the two swords above.
The templar spun on his knees and lunged back in. He crossed his daggers against Alukah's throat from behind, pressing the blades into corrupted flesh.
"By Ignis's beard! It won't cut!"
The creature's neck resisted the steel as if reinforced by something beyond flesh and bone. But the templar's weight and position forced Alukah's head down, finally creating the opening they needed.
The burly adventurer released his mace. It clattered to the ground as his massive armored hand reached past the tangle of struggling limbs and weapons. His thick fingers closed around the red diamond embedded deep in Alukah's chest.
He pulled.
Flesh tore. The creature screamed.
The core came free.
But something was wrong.
Alukah released impossible strength. All four warriors flew backward, crashing into the ground. The core skittered across the cavern floor.
The monster immediately chased after the crystal with unexpected speed, its movements no longer defensive but driven by raw desperation.
Helyns kicked the diamond away just before the creature's claws could close around it. The diamond skipped out of reach, flashing as it struck and spun across the stone.
Commander Varius snatched it up.
"Keep it away from the beast!" Helyns called out, loosing another arrow that embedded itself in Alukah's shoulder.
The creature barely registered the hit, its attention fixed entirely on the glowing diamond in Varius's hand. It launched itself at the commander with frightening intensity.
Varius spun away, tossing the crystal across the chamber. "Sarvin!"
The crusader caught the diamond one-handed, immediately sprinting in the opposite direction as Alukah changed course mid-air, abandoning its pursuit of Varius to chase after the new holder of its precious core.
Landre summoned another light javelin, hurling it at the creature to slow its advance. "Luxetahn Lumi Solis!"
The spear of light grazed Alukah's wing but failing to deter it from its single-minded pursuit. Sarvin found himself cornered against the cavern wall, the creature closing in rapidly.
"Saint Landre!" he called, tossing the crystal high into the air.
Landre reached up, catching the diamond in her outstretched hand. The moment her fingers closed around it, she felt a sickening pulse of corrupted energy. Hundreds of voices seemed to whisper in her mind simultaneously—the trapped souls of the villagers, their life force bound within the crystal's facets.
Alukah's head whipped toward her. It screeched and launched itself directly at Landre.
"Keep passing it!" the platinum adventurer shouted. "Don't let it get the crystal!"
Within seconds, a thin layer of crystalline growth began spreading across Landre's skin, working its way up from her fingertips.
"It's... changing me," she gasped, her voice tight with pain.
The platinum adventurer was at her side instantly. "Pass it! Don't hold it too long!"
Landre tossed the crystal to him.
Alukah's momentum carried it straight toward Landre. The templar with clawed gauntlets slid in front of her, weapon raised. His strike caught Alukah across the torso—a blow that should have stopped any creature's momentum.
Alukah didn't flinch. It planted both feet against the templar's chest and kicked with brutal force.
The templar flew backward like a ragdoll, his body crashing into the cavern wall. The impact drove the air from his lungs, blood spraying from his mouth. He gasped for breath then collapsed.
"Lienthar Solith Revinuem!" Landre's healing spell immediately directed toward the templar.
Alukah was now airborne from its leap off the templar, body arcing toward the adventurer holding the core.
"Keep it moving!" Commander Varius ordered, positioning their fighters in a loose circle. "If the creature gets the core, we're back to square one!"
The crystal flew from hand to hand. Helyns to Sarvin to a royal mage to Varius. Each holder kept it for mere seconds before passing it on.
Alukah's movements grew more frantic with each throw. Faster. More desperate.
Now, only experienced eyes could track the creature's path—a blur of charred limbs and tattered wings. Several younger soldiers stepped back from the circle—fear plain on their faces—choosing to give the veterans space rather than risk fumbling the pass.
Landre caught the crystal again. The crystalline growth still formed on her skin, but slower than before. The red glow was dimming.
"It's losing power!" she called out before tossing it to Sarvin as she quickly moved out of the way.
Alukah thrashed wildly, its speed now matching each throw. Arrows struck from time to time—embedding in charred flesh, doing little but buying seconds.
One of the adventurers readied to toss the crystal. Alukah's head snapped—not at him, but at the space beyond where the throw would land. The creature lunged before the adventurer even released.
A soldier threw himself into Alukah's path. The impact sent him sprawling, but it slowed the creature just enough.
The crystal sailed past Alukah's outstretched claws. The adventurer shook his hand, wincing from the corruption's damage.
Landre's attention shifted to the creature itself. With each passing moment, Alukah's form seemed less substantial. Wisps of smoke and dust pulled away from its body, dissipating into the air.
"Look! It's disintegrating without the core!"
Despite the devastating wounds Alukah had sustained, it fought on with terrible determination, ignoring injuries that would have felled any natural beast. Its limbs, charred and broken, still carried it forward with unnatural strength.
With a final, desperate lunge, Alukah hurled itself toward Varius as he caught the crystal.
The commander twisted aside at the last instant. Claws cut through empty air.
Alukah slammed into the ground, its own momentum driving it hard into a stalagmite. Stone cracked. The creature sagged at the base of it, limbs spasming.
For a moment, the chamber held its breath.
Alukah's body shuddered as it tried to rise. Its muscles seized, what little strength remained draining away.
With a guttural scream that echoed through the cavern, the creature collapsed completely. It dropped back down with a heavy thud. Motionless.
The core in Varius's hand slowly hummed with warm energy, its color shifting from blood-red to a gentle amber. Landre could sense the change—the corruption was fading from the trapped life forces.
"We did it?" Helyns breathed, her voice barely audible. "Is it finally... dead?"
No one dared to answer aloud. All eyes converged on the creature's charred form, waiting for any sign of movement.
Then Vel's voice emerged in Landre's mind, distant yet unmistakable.
"Lan-neechan..."
Helyns's face changed as she recognized the swirling darkness gathering around Alukah—a pattern she'd seen described in countless Guild reports.
"Brace yourself!" But the warning came too late.
A pulse of darkness erupted from Alukah's body. The shockwave burst outward in all directions—bodies flew backward, shields clattered against stone, warriors crashed to the ground.
Landre stumbled back as darkness coiled around Alukah's fallen form. The void-taint twisted and reshaped the creature's body, pulling it upright in jerky, unnatural movements. Its head lolled to one side, neck bent at an impossible angle.
Then it spoke—but not with Alukah's voice.
"Fleeeeshlingg..."
The word slithered through the air, a sound that seemed to bypass ears and materialize directly in the mind. Landre's blood turned to ice as recognition washed over her. That voice—she knew that voice.
Alukah's head remained tilted at that sickening angle, its lifeless eyes staring off into nothing, completely misaligned with the direction of its speech. The disconnect between voice and gaze made Landre's stomach lurch.
"You tried to fight the inevitable."
The voice resonated with the same dark presence that had once taken hold of her mind as she stood at the cliff's edge years ago.
"But WE. Are eternal. WE are the law of cosmic."
Landre stared at the twisted, void-corrupted creature before her, feeling a surge of anger cut through her fear. She stood taller, drawing on Shizka's light that flowed through her very being.
"You have no place here," Landre announced, her voice ringing with divine authority.
Alukah's head snapped toward her with unnatural speed, the sickening crack of vertebrae echoing through the cavern. Its dead eyes suddenly focused directly on her, pupils dilating with malevolent recognition.
"Vessel! Worms! Wretches of PATHETIC gods," it hissed, the words crawling insects. "One day, ALL will return to US. Insignificant, inconsequential."
Landre felt the others shifting nervously around her, but she stood her ground.
"What do you mean?" she demanded, needing to understand the entity that had nearly driven her to take her own life.
The creature's mouth stretched into an unnatural smile, jaw extending far beyond what its skull should allow. Then it began to snicker—a rasping sound that made its head bob up and down like a dangling worm. The grotesque motion continued with each laugh, the neck seeming unable to hold steady.
"This world... is not what it seems to be..." it said between snickers, voice dripping with dark amusement.
"Laugh at this. FIRE!" Commander Varius shouted from behind.
A barrage of light spells and attacks erupted from all sides, striking Alukah with concentrated force. Blazing arrows, divine lances, and enchanted blades converged on the creature simultaneously. It flinched under the assault, its corrupted flesh burning and dissolving where the light touched. The damage was evident, yet it made no attempt to avoid the attacks, as if the pain meant nothing.
"WE will come back… when TIME finds us," it promised, voice somehow cutting through the chaos of battle.
Then, with a twist of its hand—a gesture so casual it seemed almost human—it opened a swirling portal of darkness beside itself. Without hesitation, the creature stepped through the void-gate and vanished, the portal collapsing behind it.
The gesture surprised everyone. Landre heard gasps and muttered curses around her as their weapons lowered in confusion.
Landre stared at the empty space where the creature had vanished, her heart pounding against her ribs. The void-gate's sudden appearance and collapse had left a lingering chill in the air, like the echo of a scream long after it fades.
"Did you see that?" Sarvin's voice broke the stunned silence. "It opened a portal."
Helyns stepped forward, her face pale with realization. "Not just any portal—that was an unstable one."
Landre's fingers trembled slightly as she lowered her hands, the light magic she'd summoned dissipating into the air.
"I knew they can come out of one as part of the rift occurrence," Commander Varius said, his voice tight with concern, "but for one to deliberately open it..."
"This thing went beyond what we know," Helyns added, examining the spot where Alukah had disappeared.
Landre became aware of eyes turning toward her. The attention made her shoulders tense, the weight of their expectation heavy upon her. Sarvin stepped closer, his expression tight with concern.
"Saint Landre," Helyns began hesitantly, "what was it talking about? It seemed to know you."
Landre felt a cold knot form in her stomach as memories surfaced.
Landre took a deep breath, steadying herself. The others deserved to know what they were facing, even if it meant revealing her own past vulnerability.
"It did know me," she admitted, her voice softer than she intended. "Years ago, before I was officially recognized by the Church. It spoke to me, tried to convince me to..." She paused, the words sticking in her throat.
Landre stared at the floor, unable to meet the questioning gazes surrounding her. The memory of that darkness felt too intimate, too shameful to share completely.
"I was possessed by it," she finally admitted, her voice barely above a whisper.
A collective gasp rippled through the group.
"You were voidtainted?!" Helyns blurted out, her composure momentarily shattered by the revelation.
Landre neither acknowledged nor denied the question directly. The truth was more complex than a simple yes or no. She'd never been fully corrupted, never transformed like the creatures they fought. But the darkness had been inside her mind, whispering, pushing her toward self-destruction.
She lifted her chin, finding strength in the memory of her salvation rather than her fall.
"I was saved by Shizka herself," Landre continued, her voice growing stronger. "Her light purged the darkness inside of me, saving me from my death."
The memory of that moment—the warm, golden light flooding her vision as she awoke on the shore with her brother—remained the most profound experience of her life.
Sarvin's expression softened slightly, understanding replacing his earlier tension. Commander Varius stepped forward, nodding with respect.
Landre looked up as Commander Varius approached, the amber crystal cradled carefully in his palm.
He extended the core toward her. "As Shizka's chosen, you should be its keeper."
Landre accepted the crystal. It weighed almost nothing in her hand—yet what it held was enough to make anyone tremble. The amber glow pulsed with the rhythm of hundreds of heartbeats. Hundreds of lives. Fragile. Precious. All contained within this small stone.
The weight of that responsibility pressed down on her shoulders far heavier than any physical burden ever could.
---
The protective barrier dissipated like morning mist.
Without the shimmering wall between them, the withered villagers stood revealed—hollow shells clearer than ever. But there was no aggression left in them. They simply stood swaying, their vacant eyes fixed on nothing. Without their master, they were but resemblances of what they'd once been.
Commander Varius stepped forward, his gaze sweeping across the hollow faces. "What should we do with them? Do we have any spell or artifact that can turn them back?"
Helyns shook her head slowly. "I've never seen anything like this. The Guild has no records of such...occurrence."
She turned toward Landre, and the weight of that gaze drew every other eye in the chamber to follow. "Perhaps the Church..."
The unfinished sentence hung in the air.
All eyes settled on Landre.
Despite her will to save them, despite her confidence in coming this far, Landre had known the truth from the beginning.
There was no spell for this. Every step she'd taken to reach this moment—gathering the force, marching into the mountains, defeating Alukah—all of it driven by a glimmer of hope that killing the creature would somehow save them.
Now all eyes rested on her. The living and the not-so-living.
Shame crept through her chest, then, the inadequacy of leading these people on false hope when there was no miracle waiting.
The question she'd been trying to avoid surfaced. What do you do when faith alone wasn't enough?
Landre's fingers tightened around the amber core. Her shoulders tensed. Her head slumped forward. Each second stretched like forever.
She had to do something. Anything. She wasn't as clever as her brother—couldn't think three steps ahead or devise brilliant solutions from nothing. All she could do was put herself forward and trust that the answer would come.
"Saint Landre—" Sarvin moved quickly to her side. His voice carried warning and protection in equal measure.
"I need to try," Landre said quietly, not looking at him but at the villagers. "No one else can save them."
Sarvin's jaw tightened. For a moment, he seemed ready to argue. Then his grip on his sword relaxed slightly. "I'll be right behind you."
Landre stepped outside the chamber, carrying the crystal before her like a lantern in the darkness.
The first villager's head turned mechanically toward the core, eyes reflecting its amber glow. Then another. One by one, their hollow gazes locked onto it with desperate yearning.
She walked with measured steps, the amber core cradled before her abdomen with both hands. The familiar posture gave her ground—drawing strength from the sacred ceremonies she used to perform, steadying her as she walked toward uncertainty.
As Landre moved deeper into their midst, their withered hands hovered before them. Like moths to flame, they trailed after her, dozens of shuffling footsteps echoing off stone walls.
Landre finally stopped where the narrow path opened into a wider ridge. This was where the crystal formations had been—now crumbled into glittering sand that crunched softly beneath her feet.
The villagers formed a circle around her. Men, women, children closed in until they stood barely an arm's length away. So close the air grew heavy, pressing against her from all sides.
Did they stop because they sensed she might be their salvation? Or because they feared the radiant light that had purged their master?
The extermination force held position outside the circle, weapons ready but lowered. If the villagers turned hostile, no one could reach her in time. But none of it mattered to Landre anymore.
She gazed around at each face in the circle. An elderly man whose wrinkled skin hung loose from his frame. A young mother who couldn't be more than twenty. A boy, perhaps eight years old, stood close enough that the amber glow reflected in his vacant stare. His arms dangled limp at his sides. His head tilted wrong, jaw hanging open like a broken hinge.
She had failed them once—arrived too late to stop Alukah before it drained them dry.
Landre knelt slowly. She set the crystal on the glittering sand before her.
"Saint Landre," Commander Varius's voice came from outside the circle, careful and uncertain. "Is everything alright? Do you need anything?"
She had no answer. All she knew was that everyone expected a miracle. And she must be the one to deliver it.
How?
Despite all the sacrifice, the bloodshed, for this very core that lay before her—was it all for nothing?
She was just a girl trying to hold onto the light and show others the path toward it. Healing small wounds. Teaching children about the goddess's grace. Small steps. Small acts. That was all she'd ever tried to do. She had no special gifts beyond her title. No power that others didn't possess. Only her will and her faith.
Faith...
Words surfaced from memory—teachings drilled into her during consecration trials. "Faith is not measured by words alone nor by deeds visible to mortal eyes. It is tested when one faces what lies beyond certainty—when belief stands unshaken before doubt itself."
"Nothing," she finally whispered. "I have nothing else to offer them."
All I have is my faith.
Landre closed her eyes and began to pray. Not the formal prayers of the Church, with their carefully crafted phrases and ritualistic cadence, but a raw, desperate plea from her heart.
"My Goddess, Shizka. You found me in the deepest dark. Caught me when I fell. I followed your radiance without understanding where it led—trusting only that you walked ahead."
She couldn't keep her voice from shaking. "I'm here. Where you led me. But these people. Families ripped apart. Lost not just from their hearths, but from each other. From themselves. They're all hollow and empty."
Minutes passed as Landre continued her prayer, her voice growing hoarse. The others maintained a respectful distance, watching in silence.
She bowed her head, but the silence was deafening. For a long moment, nothing happened. No sign, no light. Just the sound of her own trembling breath.
Was this what it meant to be a Saint? Was this her limit? She had come this far only to fail these innocent people when they needed her most.
Tears slipped down her cheeks, her chest burning. "I have no strength to pull them back. No power to restore what was stolen. I am small. Fragile. Unworthy. But you... if you can hear this prayer... please, extend your mercy to them. Not for my sake—for theirs. For those who still carry faith. Light their path. Lead them home as you once led me."
Landre felt her shoulders slump with the weight of her inadequacy. All the ceremonies, the consecrations, the endless hours of prayer and study—what good were they if she couldn't save these villagers? The amber crystal sat before her, pulsing with stolen life force she had no power to return.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice breaking. "I don't know how to help you."
Silence answered her. The kind that pressed against the ears, heavy and absolute.
A tear slipped down her cheek, falling onto the crystal's surface. Then another.
Landre closed her eyes, accepting her failure.
Then, impossibly, light began to fill the cavern. Landre looked up in confusion, searching for the source, only to realize the radiance was emanating from her own body. Golden light spilled from her skin, her eyes, even her breath—illuminating the darkness.
The amber crystal responded to her glow, its surface beginning to pulse with brilliant light.
Landre lifted the core with trembling hands, holding it before her. The boy—the eight-year-old with vacant eyes and dangling arms—stood closest. His withered hand reached out slowly, hovering before the crystal. But his fingers curled inward, still afraid.
She brought the core closer to him and whispered gently. "It's alright."
His fingertips brushed against the crystal's surface.
For a heartbeat, nothing happened. Then, slowly, awareness began to seep back into his eyes. The hollow vacancy receded, replaced by something fragile and new—recognition, confusion, life. His withered skin filled out, the ashen gray turning to healthy white.
A sob escaped Landre's lips. Tears streamed down her face as she smiled through the crying, watching the boy's transformation.
The crystal cracked. The fracture began precisely where her tears had fallen, spiderwebbing outward across the amber surface.
Tiny wisps of golden light began to rise from the fissures, floating upward like luminous dandelion seeds. Each mote of light drifted toward a villager, drawn unerringly to its rightful owner.
One by one, the lights found their homes. Children straightened, adults gasped as consciousness returned, the elderly wept with confusion and relief. The crystal continued to release its captured essence until nothing remained but an empty, clear shell.
"Unbelievable," someone whispered from outside the circle.
"She really did it," another voice breathed.
"The gods truly walk with her," Sarvin said, his voice thick with awe.
"To witness a miracle with your very own eyes..." Commander Varius trailed off, his usual authority stripped away by wonder.
Several soldiers dropped to their knees, heads bowed in prayer. Whether they prayed to Shizka or to the Saint before them, even they might not have known.
Near the front of the circle stood a familiar figure—the man who had told them about the illness, about the mine. His withered frame had filled out, color returning to his weathered face. He touched his cheek slowly, staring at his hands as if watching pieces of memory slot back into place. His gaze found Landre, something like understanding beginning to dawn in his restored eyes.
"Where am I?" a young woman asked, looking around with bewilderment.
"What happened to us?" an older man questioned, examining his hands as if seeing them for the first time.
Sarvin and Helyns approached together, their boots crunching on glittering sand. Behind them, Commander Varius's voice cut through the rising confusion. "Healers, attend to them. Children first. Get them water and blankets."
As people moved across the ridge, their footsteps disturbed the crystalline sand. Particles tumbled over the edge, catching Landre's golden radiance as they fell. The glowing grains cascaded down into the cavern's depths—streams of light pouring downward like a luminous waterfall, transforming the darkness below into something almost sacred.
Helyns knelt beside Landre, her weathered face softened with something like reverence. "You are truly a miracle."
"Can you stand?" Sarvin asked quietly.
Landre nodded, rising slowly to her feet. The moment she straightened, the world tilted. Her knees buckled.
Both Sarvin and Helyns moved in instantly, catching her before she fell. Their hands steadied her as her legs trembled beneath her weight.
She was exhausted—mind and body drained completely. Yet somehow, that felt distant. Unreal. Nothing seemed as real as watching those hollow faces fill with life again. Seeing the light return to vacant eyes.
She had done it. She didn't know how—couldn't explain the miracle that had flowed through her. But it was enough.
"Thank you," Landre said quietly to Sarvin and Helyns, then raised her voice to address everyone. "Thank you. All of you."
She bowed deeply to the company.
The royal soldiers moved as one, removing their helmets and holding them at their sides. They snapped to attention, right fists striking their chests in perfect unison—a salute of respect reserved for those who had earned it through valor.
The templars, inquisitors, and paladins performed their sect's gesture. Fists pressed to their chests, then palms moved to their foreheads. In one fluid motion, they flipped their hands and raised them above their heads—the rising sun, Shizka's symbol of hope and renewal.
The adventurers exchanged glances, then bowed awkwardly in return. They had no formal tradition for moments like this, no unified gesture. But their respect was no less genuine.
The cavern that had been dark, empty, and cold slowly filled with something warmer. Voices rose—questions, laughter, relief. Families finding each other. Healers rushing to tend the weakest. Soldiers organizing the evacuation. The triumph of survival spreading through the recovered villagers.
Landre let herself fade into the background, watching whatever work needed to be done unfold without her.
It doesn't matter if a place is abandoned or empty, she thought, taking in the scene before her. As long as there are people, happiness... anywhere can be as warm as home.
This was exactly why she did what she'd done. Why she would continue doing it. To bring happiness and salvation to this world, one miracle at a time.
[Ch37 - 2/3]